Kurdish forces in northern Iraq have launched an offensive to take the town of Sinjar back from the Islamic State with the help of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes.
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“The Iraqi Security Forces, including the Peshmerga, continue to put pressure on Da’ish across Iraq, including in Ramadi, Bayji, and now Sinjar and along Highway 47”, said Col. Christopher C. Garver, Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve Public Affairs Officer.
Another Kurdish security source confirmed that intelligence reports said there are between 350 to 400 IS militants inside Sinjar, including a few suicide bombers, but there is also a great deal of fear and confusion among the militants and their leaders who were forced to withdraw to new positions inside Sinjar, while many others fled the town through the desert in south of the town to Ba’aj and other areas. “As I told you in our last interview, there’s a need [for] an integrated strategy, including an air campaign and ground troops”, PM Ahmet Davutoğlu told CNN International’s Christiane Amanpour on November 9. Reuters could not independently confirm this.
The offensive is being personally overseen by Kurdistan regional president Massoud Barzani.
Peshmerga commanders have estimated a few 300 ISIS fighters are still inside Sinjar and likely plan to die there.
Peshmerga fighters and the militants exchanged heavy gunfire as the assault began. The artery in that passes by means of the town links the Iraqi city of Mosul – ISIS’ prized possession – with cities it holds in Syria.
Several thousand Yazidis have also joined the peshmerga – for them, the battle is very much about retribution.
Peshmerga fighter Raiz Farhan, 21, was piled into the back of a flatbed truck with more than a dozen others.
“It is our land and our honour”, he said. Islamic State seize the city last summer in a major offensive…it’s about an hour’s drive from the Kurdish capital of Erbil…
Derbo’s brother, Farman, echoed the sentiment, saying he hoped the militants did not retreat from battle so that the Yazidis could kill them all.
Around dawn, the fighters piled into their vehicles and headed to the front.
The attack on Sinjar was one of the reasons the U.S. began air strikes against IS positions in Iraq in August 2014, amid a warning of genocide.
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Kurdish forces claim they have captured part of Sinjar’s main road and started clearing the town itself since the offensive launched.
